Defence is one of the UK's busiest employers right now, and the direction of travel is up. MOD expenditure with industry supported a total of 272,000 direct jobs in 2023/24, an increase of 11% on the previous financial year MOD supported employment estimates 2023/24 - GOV.UK. That builds on strong momentum from the year before, when the total number of MOD-supported UK jobs reached 239,000 in 2022/23, up 6% on the previous year MOD supported employment estimates 2022/23 - GOV.UK.
Recruitment appetite has grown alongside the workforce. The defence sector continued to be an attractive employer, with surveyed recruitment growing by 17.8% in 2022 Defence sector continues contributing significantly to UK economy - GOV.UK. Investment is feeding that pipeline too: more than 1,700 new jobs are being created across the UK defence sector following at least £1.4 billion in foreign direct investment committed since July 2024 Defence dividend delivers thousands of UK jobs following exceptional foreign investment - GOV.UK.
So the hiring picture is a growing workforce, rising recruitment and fresh investment arriving at once. For employers, that means more competition for the same skilled people, and a reason to think carefully about how teams are designed.
Modern defence platforms are no longer a collection of separate parts bolted together. A vehicle, vessel or aircraft now works as one connected system, where sensors, software, communications and weapons all talk to each other. Systems integration is the discipline of making those pieces work as a whole, and it is reshaping which roles sit at the centre of a team.
The classic single-discipline specialist still matters, but the people in demand increasingly sit across boundaries. Think systems integration engineers, software and hardware engineers who understand each other's work, data and interface specialists, cyber security engineers, and architects who can see the whole platform. These roles pull a team together rather than keeping it in separate lanes.
With recruitment growing by 17.8% in 2022 Defence sector continues contributing significantly to UK economy - GOV.UK and 272,000 direct jobs now supported across the sector MOD supported employment estimates 2023/24 - GOV.UK, the dynamic is clear: demand is high, and the hardest roles to fill are the ones that connect disciplines rather than deepen a single one.
Start with the shape of the team, not the job title. Map the integration points on your programme first: where software meets hardware, where data crosses systems, where security wraps around everything. Then hire for the people who hold those seams together, not just the deep specialists who sit inside them.
Hiring well here is less about filling a seat and more about designing how a team fits together. The employers who do that early tend to win the people who make integrated programmes succeed.
When you need people who connect disciplines, the challenge is finding them fast and matching them precisely. We search a database of 15 million candidates and rank a shortlist against the exact skills your integrated team needs, so you spend your time talking to the right people rather than searching for them.
Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. That keeps the focus where it belongs: finding the right person and managing the whole process for you. Tell us the roles your programme needs, and we will start building your shortlist today.
